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Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land
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Program Overview
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NOVA explores a remote Judean cave where ancient Jews sought refuge
nearly 2,000 years ago.
The program:
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travels to the Southern Israel desert with a team of
archeologists who are trying to learn more about the people who
inhabited the Cave of Letters.
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chronicles a 1960-61 expedition to the cave, when Israeli
archeologist Yigael Yadin theorized the cave had been inhabited
by refugees from the Second Jewish Revolt against the Roman
Empire in 132 A.D.
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describes how Yadin discovered the letters of Jewish rebel
leader Simeon Bar-Kokhba and the personal documents of a Jewish
woman named Babatha.
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shows how archeologists on a second expedition, led by Richard
Freund, use ground penetrating radar, endoscopy, and electrical
resistivity tomography to see beneath cave floor rubble.
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reviews details about the first and second Jewish revolts.
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examines Freund's controversial theory that the cave was
initially occupied during the First Jewish Revolt in 66 A.D. and
that the artifacts Yadin found were objects rescued from the
sacred Temple in Jerusalem.
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conveys doubts from other archeologists regarding Freund's
theory, claiming that there is no evidence in the cave of
objects older than 135 A.D.
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presents Freund's counterargument to this claim, based on
inferences from radiocarbon dating of the letters found in the
cave, which suggest that some objects were older than 135 A.D.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program
is taped off the air.
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